ORCID

Open Researcher and Contributor ID

‌An ORCID is a unique identifier which allows you to distinguish yourself from other researchers throughout your career. They are free to create and enable authoritative links to be created between you and your research activities (e.g. research outputs, funding data, employment history).

When you create a new ORCID account there are two key components:

A definitive record of your research activities which is available to other systems via the open ORCID registry

A personal profile page which is available via a unique URL

Registering for an ORCID takes 30 seconds on the ORCID website. To maximise the benefit of your ORCID it's important to keep your account up to date with your latest research outputs.

"ORCID provides one central place to record my outputs and grants, this information is then openly available to any other databases."

Prof Werner Muller, Bill Ford Chair in Cellular Immunology

Over the coming months the University is encouraging all staff and postgraduate research students to ensure that they have claimed an ORCID. To support this the Library has joined ORCID as a member organisation and created a dedicated team to help staff create and maintain their accounts with minimal input.

A core principle of ORCIDs is that academics own their ORCID data. Consequently no external organisation can create, edit or maintain an ORCID account without the explicit permission of the academic.

How does an ORCID benefit me?

Claiming an ORCID makes it more likely that you are credited for your work. This is particularly true of academics with very common names, or those who change their name during their career.

Your ORCID account provides a single place to record all of your research works and grants.

Having an ORCID makes it easier to report your work to funders, agencies and institutions.

A growing number of publishers and funders are integrating ORCIDs into their systems (for example from August 2015 all PIs require an ORCID for grant applications to the Wellcome Trust)

How is this different from academic social networking sites such as ResearchGate, Academic.edu etc?

ORCID is not a social networking site. Having an ORCID does make it easier for you and your work to be found but is not intended to allow you to connect with other researchers via an online community.

The ultimate aim of ORCID is to create an open central registry of data that can eventually be used to improve the accuracy of other systems holding data about academics, this includes academic social networking sites such as ResearchGate and Academia.edu.

Is there a commercial interest behind this?

ORCID is a non-profit, community driven project, open to all researchers in any discipline and at any career stage; there is no commercial interest behind the ORCID project.

Does it cost anything?

No, the ORCID registry is available free of charge to individuals, who may obtain an ORCID identifier, manage their record of activities, and search for others in the registry.

If I already have a Scopus ID, do I need an ORCID?

An ORCID can help track all activities such as funding, employment and education, and not just research outputs. It can also be linked to your Scopus ID.

How do ORCIDs benefit the institution?

A local store of staff ORCIDs could enable the institution to:

Improve grant submission processes

Generate more accurate records of research activities

Transfer research related data between internal and external systems more efficiently and accurately

Receive automatic updates when new research outputs are added to any staff member's ORCID account

Reduce the overall administrative burden on academic staff

Can we help?

The University of Manchester Library one of five National Research Libraries